Quebec Writers' Federation

2023-10-13 08:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Maxwell Cohen Moot Court, 3644 Peel Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1W9, Canada
Thurs, Oct 19, 5:30-7:00 pmMaxwell Cohen Moot Court, New Chancellor Day Hall3644 Peel Street, Montreal

The Department of English at McGill University invites you to a joint reading with the Scotiabank Giller Prize-nominated authors Kasia Van Schaik & Padma Viswanathan. The readings will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Professor Ara Osterweil. This event does not require registration.

Kasia Juno Van Schaik is the author of the linked story collection We Have Never Lived on Earth, which was nominated for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2022 Concordia University First Book Prize. Her writing has appeared in the LA Review of Books, CBC Books, Maisonneuve Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry, Electric Literature, The Rumpus and more. Kasia holds a PhD in Literature from McGill University, where she teaches creative writing. She is currently working on a book of cultural criticism and memoir entitled Women Among Monuments. In 2021, Kasia served as a CBC QWF writer-in-residence.

Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American novelist, published in eight countries and shortlisted for the PEN USA Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Recent publications include Like Every Form of Love: A Memoir of Friendship and True Crime and São Bernardo, a translation of a novel by Brazilian novelist Graciliano Ramos. Forthcoming works include a novel, The Charterhouse of Padma, and a translation of Djamila Ribeiro’s Where We Stand: Notes on Speech, Place and Justice. Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas, she divides her time between Fayetteville and Montréal.

Shut Up & Write! with QWF
2023-10-14 10:00 - 12:30 | Quebec
Saturday, October 14, 10:00 am–12:30 pmOnline via Zoom—RSVP below to receive the Zoom link

Looking for some dedicated, quiet writing space?

Register below to do all that writing you’ve been meaning to do. Using the Pomodoro technique, participants write in 25 minute bursts, with 5 minutes break in between.

This event is for QWF members only. Not a member? Learn about becoming a member.

The Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the session.

Please note that these sessions are designed for silent writing, rather than discussing or getting feedback on work.

10:00–10:25: Writing 110:25–10:30: Break10:30–10:55: Writing 210:55–11:00: Break11:00–11:25: Writing 311:25–11:30: Break11:30–11:55: Writing 411:55–12:00: Break12:00–12:25: Writing 5

To receive the Zoom link, RSVP below.

Note: RSVPs will close 24 hours before the event starts. If there is no option to RSVP, RSVPs are closed.

Creating a Website: Editorial, Graphic Design, Mechanics
2023-10-14 10:00 - 13:00, 2023-10-21 10:00 - 13:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Three Saturdays, Oct 14-28, 10am-1pmOpen to allLimited to 10 participantsHybrid Workshop

From appearance to navigation, a lot goes into creating an eye-catching, user-friendly website. This how-to workshop series will help you understand the essentials you need to develop your website strategy, a plan for your online presence.

Over three successive Saturdays, group sessions will explore what a website can deliver and what it takes to make it work for you.

Liz Perrin, Connect Project Manager for the Atwater Library, and Gina Roitman, marketer, author and writing coach, will walk you through the key areas you need to consider for a successful site. They will address the importance of knowing your focus and theme, how to showcase it through your editorial and graphic design, and what mechanics are required to make the website easy to access and navigate. How to budget, pitfalls, and how to make a little go far are also on the agenda.

The three 3-hour sessions will be followed by one-on-one, half-hour consultations with each of the two workshop leaders.

Workshop Outline

Session One: Graphic Design and Editorial

These are the questions to consider before you begin:

What are you selling —a specific product or a service?

Do you have a visual or editorial theme?

What comes first?

What are your expectations?

What can a website do for you?

What can’t it do?

How much is too much – editorially or graphically?

Session Two: Graphic Design and the Mechanical

What is your budget?

How many pages do you need?

Choosing your look and theme: free website templates

Do you want to sell product on the website? How?

Session Three: Mechanics, Design and Editorial

Finding resources

Working with a designer, a web writer

Navigation and usability

Domain and web hosting

Maintenance and monitoring

Sitemap and SEO

Liz Perrin is a digital technology consultant with over 10 years of experience helping people build a strategic digital and technology roadmap to pursue their individual, business, and IT goals. For the past 3 years she has used that experience as Connect Project Manager at the Atwater Library to help people to manage their own digital lifestyle. Liz has helped to develop a digital and media literacy curriculum that has garnered national recognition.When not enjoying the thrill of helping people become digitally and technologically independent, Liz is an amateur gardener, and co-organizes SpeakUp, a free poetry series in Montreal.

Gina Roitman is an author, biographer, and writing coach. A former publicist and communications agency principal, Gina has sampled many careers and worn many hats but now devotes herself to writing and mentoring. Her books include the recent literary novel, Don’t Ask; the collection, Tell Me Story, Tell Me the Truth; and the biography, Midway to China and Beyond Her work has also appeared in essay and poetry anthologies as well as on radio. In 2013, she was the subject of the award-winning documentary, My Mother, the Nazi Midwife and Me. For more about Gina, go to www.ginaroitman.com

The Writer Is In: Pop-Up Writing Booth
2023-10-14 13:00 - 16:00 | Quebec
Saturday, October 14, 1-4 pmWestmount Park Gazebo4574 Sherbrooke St. W., Westmount

Join us for The Writer Is In, a series of pop-up writing booths we’re organizing in and around downtown Montreal in October and November.

On October 14, from 1 to 4 pm, we’ll be we’ll be at the Westmount Park Gazebo (directions below) with writers from QWF’s Hire a Writer Directory, who will be offering free writing services to passers-by. They’ll be there to take on any writing request you may have, from business letters to love letters and everything in between. Stop by, say hi, and treat yourself to some poetic pampering.

Part of our Writing Matters campaign to raise awareness about writers’ value to our culture, society, and economy.

View All Writer Is In Events

Where to Find Us in Westmount Park

The gazebo is near the southeast corner of the park, just west of Melville Avenue. For the exact location, see the red star on the map below:

Advanced Memoir: Maintaining Momentum
2023-10-16 08:00 - 17:00, 2023-10-23 08:00 - 17:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
This workshop on memoir is designed for people who have already studied at the intermediate or advanced level with Elaine Kalman Naves. Please don’t be daunted by the “advanced” label. All of you are at a level to benefit from this workshop if you’re interested in writing, reading, and talking about memoir!

Though you need not be working on a book- length narrative, you will be expected to have a specific project in mind. It can be something you were working on in a previous workshop or something entirely new.

During the course of the workshop, you will have the opportunity to submit a piece of up to 3000 words, and with luck you will have a chance to present a second time. (More details about this once we get rolling.)

Instead of a text, you will have the opportunity of reading some fine memoirs and the long lead-up to this fall workshop will give you a chance to do some advance reading. Please give priority in your summer reading to the terrific memoirs by the three writers who will be guest lecturers over the course of the session. (See below.) Once we have established who the actual workshop participants will be, I will also supply you with a list of suggested optional works to enjoy over the course of the summer.

The emphasis is – as always in any workshop – on student input. Participants will not only be presenting their own work to the group but will also be expected to give careful reading of each other’s pieces in order to provide vital critical feedback. This element of the program is equally important to the writing. As in the past there will also be in-class exercises and discussion of topics of writerly interest. In a new departure, we will start critiquing participants’ pieces at the very first session. Participants who volunteer to present early in the session will be much appreciated! Getting a head start will make it possible to present second drafts. Again, we will work out these details ahead of time once the class list is established.

Here are the names of the guest lecturers and their respective titles:

Charles Foran, Just Once, No More

Harriet Alida Lye, Natural Killer

Merrily Weisbord, The Strangest Dream; Our Future Selves; Love Queen of Malabar

And please don’t forget that William Zinsser’s On Writing Well is a great resource for matters of grammar and style!

To apply, please send an email to Riley@QWF.org with the subject line “Advanced Memoir Application” no later than June 30, 2023. Your email must include:

1. a 3-5-page double-spaced writing sample (non-fiction or fiction) that you feel is representative of your abilities.

2. a paragraph or two outlining the writing project you plan to pursue in the workshop.

Elaine Kalman Naves is a long-time literary journalist and the author of seven non-fiction titles, and of a novel. She is a two-time recipient of the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the winner of two Canadian Jewish Book Awards, and of a Canadian Literary Award for Personal Essay. Her memoir Journey to Vaja: Reconstructing the World of a Hungarian-Jewish Family has been made into a documentary film. Elaine’s novel, The Book of Faith, was nominated for the Leacock Prize for Humour. She has led workshops at the QWF since their inception in 1998. To find out more about Elaine, visit her website at http://www.elainekalmannaves.com/.

Conversation and Q &A with Ariela Freedman about Léa
2023-10-16 19:30 - 21:00 | Quebec
A conversation and Q & A with Ariela Freedman about her most recent novel, Léa, moderated by Linda Shohet. Based on famed Quebec activist Léa Roback (1903-2000), the novel brings to life a heroine emboldened by political struggles that resonate to this day. Léa, born to a large Jewish family and raised in a small French Catholic town, navigates languages and cultures to fight for social justice and change for women, for unions, and for any cause where she noted injustice. Ariela will discuss what drew her to Roback, why she chose to focus on her early years, and why Roback remains a revered figure in Quebec social justice circles.

Mille-Feuille: Writing Layered Nonfiction
2023-10-17 19:00 - 21:00, 2023-10-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Online via Zoom
Eight Tuesdays, Oct 3-Nov 21, 7-9pmOpen to allLimited to 12 participantsOnline via Zoom

The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay. Ongoingness, by Sarah Manguso. Persephone’s Children, by Rowan McCandless. Citizen, by Claudia Rankine. Safekeeping, by Abigail Thomas. What these and many other contemporary memoirs and book-length essays share is that they build in fragments. Each fragment may be less than a page long, and the one that follows may or may not appear to be related. Yet somehow, layer upon layer, the fragments cohere into a rich and satisfying whole. In this online generative workshop, we’ll take a cue from books like these. We’ll practice writing as a process of accretion, starting small and layering, adding texture and depth to our memoirs or personal and lyric essays.

Each class will begin with a warm-up invitation, followed by conversation about a short reading related to the technique or form of the day. A second writing invitation will give you the chance to practice what we’ve discussed. You’ll also get opportunities to share your work.

You’ll come away with one or more short essays (in draft) and/or the beginning of a longer piece.

This workshop is suitable for participants at all levels. Poets wanting to move to prose and fiction writers may also enjoy it, because the exercises will be adaptable to these genres. Come prepared to write, to read, to experiment, to share.

Week 1: The Fragment and the Flash.

Week 2: Collage. Contrast, juxtaposition, the unexpected.

Week 3: The Braid. Parallel narratives.

Week 4: The Hermit Crab. The borrowed form.

Week 5: The Hermit Crab. More borrowings.

Week 6: Diptych or Triptych.

Week 7: Visual Essay.

Week 8: Accretion as Method and Aesthetic.

Note: Participants might wish to read one or more of the books mentioned above before the course begins, but there’s no requirement to do so. I’ll provide reading material before or during each class, and a list of suggested resources at the end.

Susan Olding is the author of Big Reader: Essays, a finalist for the Canadian Authors Association Fred Kerner Award and the Alberta Publishing Awards Trade Nonfiction Book of the Year, and Pathologies: A Life in Essays, selected by 49th Shelf and Amazon.ca as one of 100 Canadian books to read in a lifetime. She mentors writers through the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive and holds the 2023 Southam Residency in Personal Journalism at the University of Victoria. You can find her at www.susanolding.com.

Fundamentals of Short Fiction
2023-10-17 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-10-24 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Eight Tuesdays, Oct 3-Nov 21, 8-10pmOpen to allLimited to 12 participantsHybrid Workshop

This is an eight-session long, interactive, hybrid workshop, exploring basic concepts related to short fiction. The workshop will be a space to receive constructive feedback on works in progress. Experimentation is encouraged.

Each two-hour session will focus on a different element of style:

character development

dialogue

descriptive writing

setting

point of view

voice

theme, and

structure.

Participants will receive prompts a week before each session (including before the first meeting) and will be asked to submit a short piece of writing (500-1000 words) to the group prior to each session. Participants are welcome to bring material generated in response to the weekly prompts or any other work that they would like feedback on (as long as it stays within the word count).

Everyone will have an opportunity to read aloud from their submitted work and receive in-depth feedback from the workshop leader and their peers. Participants will also receive written feedback on their submitted work from the workshop leader after each session.

Each week’s prompts will focus on a particular element of short fiction, and we will begin the session with a conversation about the role that element plays in creating a cohesive and immersive world. Then we will move into hearing and discussing submitted work.

Eva Crocker is a freelance editor and author based in Montreal. Her debut novel All I Ask was long-listed for the 2020 Giller Prize and won the 2020 BMO Winterset Award. Her short story collection Barreling Forward was shortlisted for Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQS2 Writers, the NLCU Fresh Fish and the Award for Emerging Writers. It won the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction and the CAA Emerging Author’s Award, and was a National Post Best Book. Her forthcoming novel Back in the Land of the Living will be published by House of Anansi Press in August 2023. She is a PhD student in Concordia University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities program where she is researching visual art from Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland).

Playwriting Circle: Do Be So Dramatic
2023-10-18 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-10-25 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Eight Wednesdays, Oct 4-Nov 22, 6-8pmOpen to allLimited to 12 participantsIn-Person Workshop

This will be a Learn-by-Doing-as-You-Go, anecdotal (in a theatre history way), ease-you-into-it experience that’s not scary or overwhelming and will result in the participants having something dramatic to show for it at the end of the session. If you have always wanted to write a play or already have a play idea in the works, this is the workshop for you. I’m quite motivational, coach-like and pushy in a good way. I will get that play out of you if you’re willing to try. I am all for deadlines, discipline, and contests. Since I have more of a comic bent, there could be more emphasis on comedy at times. The workshop will evolve as it goes, based on what everyone hopes to accomplish. I am often surprised and quite happy to see what happens when I throw ideas and writing games at writers in the workshop. I am very careful about how feedback is given because everything is so new. This does not mean that there won’t be plenty of opportunity to share your work or prove that you are indeed writing. One of my past QWF workshops resulted in Picturesque: Voices from Beaver Hall, which saw productions at Redpath Museum and Dawson Theatre as well as museums in Hamilton and Calgary.

Colleen Curran is an award-winning playwright, novelist, actor, and teacher. Her comedy Cake-Walk premiered at the Blyth Festival in 1984 and has had more than 50 productions across North America. It was brought to the attention of Showtime Network by Whoopi Goldberg. Curran’s many plays include Villa Eden, Sacred Hearts (winner of the International Gabriel Award and most recently done by Zeitgeist Stage in Boston), Maple Lodge (Winner Best Canadian Play, Samuel French Inc. Competition), Another Labour Day (Best New Play QDF 1984), El Clavadista, A Brave Girl, Sybil and Sylvia, Casa de Mary Margaret, Ceili House, and Ireland’s Own Carmel O’Reilly Tonite! Her three novels about Montreal singing waitress Lenore Rutland are Something Drastic, Overnight Sensation, and Guests of Chance. Her stage adaptation of Something Drastic premiered in 2002 and has been seen in Winnipeg, Toronto, Athens, and Melbourne. Her True Nature launched the 2011-2012 season at Centaur Theatre. Out for Stars, her latest novel, made the Long List for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. During the pandemic, Colleen created Kitty Calling starring Debra Hale and Lorna Wilson, it won best Canadian web series in Toronto’s Now magazine.

Writers Out Loud: Navigating the Impacts of Bill 96
2023-10-18 19:00 - 20:30 | Atwater Library Auditorium, 1200 Atwater Avenue, 2nd floor, Westmount, QC
Wednesday, October 18, 20237:00-8:30 pm ESTFree, online and in person

Join us for Writers Out Loud: Navigating the Impacts of Bill 96. Authors Christopher Neal, Shailee, and Vanessa Sasson sit down with Guy Rex Rodgers to discuss Bill 96 and its impact on language issues in Quebec.

The panel will be in person at the Atwater Library Auditorium. Attendees can attend in person or register to join online via Zoom. You do not have to register if you plan to attend in person.

Feel free to share the Facebook event with friends and family.

To attend online, register to get the link to the Zoom Webinar. You do not need to register if you plan to attend in person.

Register for Zoom Link

About the Participants

A graduate of the National Theatre School’s playwriting program and long-time arts activist, Guy Rex Rodgers was co-founder of the Quebec Drama Federation (QDF) and the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF), was a member of the founding board of le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) and founding Executive Director of the English-Language Arts Network (ELAN). In 2015 he was appointed a companion in l’Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec. Since leaving ELAN in 2020, Guy has written and directed eight documentary films about Anglos in Quebec in collaboration with MAtv, the National Film Board of Canada and CBC. He also writes a monthly column about culture, politics and history for The Montrealer magazine.

Shailee is a writer and graduate student originally from India. She recently completed her master’s thesis, investigating the politics of queer representation in postcolonial Indian theatre, at the department of English at McGill University. Her book, Sita and Helen—a graphic novel for young adults published by Tulika Books—hit the shelves earlier this year. In May, her paper on Rahul Varma’s play Counter Offence was published in the International Association of Theatre Critics’ peer-reviewed journal, Critical Stages/ Scènes critiques. It explores the effects of the linguistic politics propagated by Bill 96 on theatre culture in Montréal by focusing on the anglophone, diasporic work of Teesri Duniya Theatre company.

Christopher Neal is a journalist and communications professional. He has been a freelance correspondent in Latin America, and a staff writer at the Montreal Gazette and Ottawa Citizen. He has also held communications leadership positions in Canada’s federal development aid agency, and at the World Bank, where he helped guide strategic communications for economic policy, data and research, operations in Latin America, energy and climate change. Since returning to Montreal from Washington DC in 2016, he has served on the boards of the Quebec Community Groups Network and Quebec Writers’ Federation, for which he drafted and presented a brief on Bill 96. He is currently Vice-President of the McGill Community of Lifelong Learning and President of the Canadian International Council’s Montreal chapter. His 2022 book, The Rebel Scribe – Carleton Beals and the Progressive Challenge to US Policy in Latin America, was short-listed for the Mavis Gallant Award for Non-Fiction.

Vanessa R. Sasson is a professor of Religious Studies in the Liberal Arts Department of Marianopolis College where she has been teaching since 1999. She is also a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State and Research Member at CERIAS at UQAM. She has published a number of articles and book chapters, is the author of The Birth of Moses and the Buddha: A Paradigm for the Comparative Study of Religions (Sheffield University Press, 2007) and editor or co-editor of a number of academic volumes, including Little Buddhas: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts and Traditions (Oxford University Press, 2013), Jewels, Jewelry, and Other Shiny Things in the Buddhist Imaginary (Hawaii University Press, 2021), and most recently with Kristin Scheible, The Buddha: A Storied Life (Oxford University Press, 2023). Yasodhara and the Buddha (Bloomsbury, 2021) is her first academic novel; it is followed by The Gathering (Equinox 2023), which focuses on the women’s request for ordination. Another is sure to follow.

Getting to the Venue

The Adair Auditorium is located on the top floor of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre.

Address: 4023 Tupper StreetWestmount, QC H3Z 1X4

Note: As this event will be held outside the library’s opening hours, please use the Tupper Street entrance if the main entrance on Atwater is closed.

Closest Metro: Atwater Station

Closest Bus lines: 24, 63, 90, 104, 138, 144, 150

Accessibility: The auditorium is fully accessible by wheelchair. From Tupper Street, there is a slight slope down to a side entrance to the basement. Once inside, there is an elevator to the second floor, where the auditorium is located.

For questions or requests about accessibility, contact John Wickham, Communications Officer, at john@qwf.org.

Learn more about the office location and accessibility.

So You've Written a Novel - Now What?
2023-10-18 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-10-25 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Eight Wednesdays, Oct 4-Nov 22, 8-10pm

Open to writers who have completed, or are close to completing, a fiction manuscript. There is no submission required prior to the first session, but participants will be expected to write loglines and query letters and share them with the group as the workshop progresses. They will also be expected to read and critique one another’s work.

Limited to 12 participants

Hybrid Workshop

The first time I typed THE END on a manuscript, I didn’t know what to do next. There’s a lot of information and encouragement on HOW to write a book, but not a lot on what to do after you’ve written the thing. And the advice you find online can be woefully misleading, confusing, or at its very worst, fraudulent.

This 8-week workshop aims to fully lay out the roadmap to traditional publishing for someone who’s finished, or is close to finishing a fiction manuscript. The journey of getting your story from your laptop to an actual book you can pick up at !ndigo follows a very specific series of steps. From landing an agent, to signing with a publisher, to contract details, this course will take you, in minute detail, through every step, with a centerpiece intensive workshop formulating your all-important Query Letter, along with details on crafting your logline, your synopsis, and your pitch kits.

Designed for absolute newbies to the world of publishing, this workshop will offer you tips and tactics to maximize your chances at every step, and by its end you should have the knowledge and confidence to approach this perilous enterprise knowing exactly what you need to do next. Because typing THE END is only the start.

—

Toronto-born, Montreal-based writer and illustrator Sherwin Sullivan Tjia has written many odd and eclectic books. Their 2005 collection of pseudohaikus, The World is a Heartbreaker, was a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s A. M. Klein Poetry Award. Their 2010 graphic novel, The Hipless Boy, was a finalist for the Doug Wright Award for best emerging talent, as well as being nominated for 4 Ignatz Awards. Their 2011 Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style book from the POV of a housecat named Holden Catfield titled You Are a Cat! won that year’s Expozine Award for best English-language book and spawned a sequel, and a prequel. Their latest graphic novel, from 2019, entitled Plummet, is about a woman who wakes up one day to find herself in literal, perpetual freefall.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inconsolablecat/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inconsolablecat/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/inconsolablecat

The Writer Is In: Pop-Up Writing Booth
2023-10-19 12:00 - 14:00 | St. Jax, 1439 St. Catherine street west, montreal, Quebec, H3G 1S6, Canada
Thursday, October 19, 12-2 pmOutside Centre St. Jax1439 Sainte-Catherine St. W., Montreal

Join us for The Writer Is In, a free series of pop-up writing booths we’re organizing in and around downtown Montreal in October and November.

On October 19, from 12 to 2 pm, we’ll be outside Centre St. Jax on Sainte-Catherine Street with writers from QWF’s Hire a Writer Directory, who will be offering free writing services to passers-by. They’ll be there to take on any writing request you may have, from business letters to love letters and everything in between. Stop by, say hi, and treat yourself to some poetic pampering.

Part of our Writing Matters campaign to raise awareness about writers’ value to our culture, society, and economy.

View All Writer Is In Events

A reading with Kasia Van Schaik & Padma Viswanathan
2023-10-19 16:30 - 17:30 | Maxwell Cohen Moot Court, 3644 Peel Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1W9, Canada
Thursday, October 19, 5:30 pmMaxwell Cohen Moot Court, New Chancellor Day Hall, McGill3644 Peel Street, MontrealFree, open to all

The Department of English invites you to a joint reading with the Scotiabank Giller Prize-nominated authors Kasia Van Schaik & Padma Viswanathan. The readings will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Professor Ara Osterweil. This event does not require registration.

Kasia Juno Van Schaik is the author of the linked story collection We Have Never Lived on Earth, which was nominated for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2022 Concordia University First Book Prize. Her writing has appeared in the LA Review of Books, CBC Books, Maisonneuve Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry, Electric Literature, The Rumpus and more. Kasia holds a PhD in Literature from McGill University, where she teaches creative writing. She is currently working on a book of cultural criticism and memoir entitled Women Among Monuments. In 2021, Kasia served as a CBC QWF writer-in-residence.

Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American novelist, published in eight countries and shortlisted for the PEN USA Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Recent publications include Like Every Form of Love: A Memoir of Friendship and True Crime and São Bernardo, a translation of a novel by Brazilian novelist Graciliano Ramos. Forthcoming works include a novel, The Charterhouse of Padma, and a translation of Djamila Ribeiro’s Where We Stand: Notes on Speech, Place and Justice. Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas, she divides her time between Fayetteville and Montréal.

Opening the Floodgates: A Short Fiction Workshop
2023-10-19 18:00 - 20:00, 2023-10-26 18:00 - 20:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Eight Thursdays, Oct 5-Nov 23, 6-8pmOpen to allLimited to 12 participantsHybrid Workshop

An eight-week workshop designed to help fiction writers open the creative floodgates. Feeling stuck in your writing? You are not alone! Participants in this workshop will spend four weeks using prompts and writing exercises to generate new stories before expanding and revising one story to workshop with the group.

With inspiration from masters of the craft such as Ursula LeGuin, George Saunders, and Matthew Salesses, participants will be encouraged to experiment with narration, structure, character arcs, and other story elements. We will also unpack the critiquing process to provide participants with the confidence and tools to refine their editor’s eye, read each story on its own terms and provide helpful feedback to fellow writers.

Other discussion topics will include how to create a writing routine, how to tackle revisions between drafts, where to submit finished stories and how to find a writing community. Participants should emerge from this workshop with clear ideas and strategies to invigorate their writing practice both on and off the page.

Rebecca Morris is a Montreal writer of literary fiction. Her stories won the Humber Literary Review’s 2022 Emerging Writers Fiction contest and the 2017 Malahat Review Open Season Award for Fiction. She also earned Honourable Mention in Prairie Fire’s 2018 Short Fiction contest and was long-listed in Room Magazine‘s 2018 Fiction contest. Other stories have been published in various Canadian literary magazines, including FreeFall, carte blanche, and the Antigonish Review. Rebecca attended the 2019 Banff Spring Writers Retreat to work on her first novel, Other Maps, which is forthcoming with Linda Leith Publishing. Visit her online at rebeccamorris.ca

Mille-Feuille: Writing Layered Nonfiction
2023-10-19 18:30 - 20:30 | Online via Zoom
Eight Thursdays, Oct 5-Dec 7 (no meeting Oct 26 and Nov 23), 6:30-8:30pmOpen to allLimited to 12 participantsOnline via Zoom

The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay. Ongoingness, by Sarah Manguso. Persephone’s Children, by Rowan McCandless. Citizen, by Claudia Rankine. Safekeeping, by Abigail Thomas. What these and many other contemporary memoirs and book-length essays share is that they build in fragments. Each fragment may be less than a page long, and the one that follows may or may not appear to be related. Yet somehow, layer upon layer, the fragments cohere into a rich and satisfying whole. In this online generative workshop, we’ll take a cue from books like these. We’ll practice writing as a process of accretion, starting small and layering, adding texture and depth to our memoirs or personal and lyric essays.

Each class will begin with a warm-up invitation, followed by conversation about a short reading related to the technique or form of the day. A second writing invitation will give you the chance to practice what we’ve discussed. You’ll also get opportunities to share your work.

You’ll come away with one or more short essays (in draft) and/or the beginning of a longer piece.

This workshop is suitable for participants at all levels. Poets wanting to move to prose and fiction writers may also enjoy it, because the exercises will be adaptable to these genres. Come prepared to write, to read, to experiment, to share.

Week 1: The Fragment and the Flash.

Week 2: Collage. Contrast, juxtaposition, the unexpected.

Week 3: The Braid. Parallel narratives.

Week 4: The Hermit Crab. The borrowed form.

Week 5: The Hermit Crab. More borrowings.

Week 6: Diptych or Triptych.

Week 7: Visual Essay.

Week 8: Accretion as Method and Aesthetic.

Note: Participants might wish to read one or more of the books mentioned above before the course begins, but there’s no requirement to do so. I’ll provide reading material before or during each class, and a list of suggested resources at the end.

Susan Olding is the author of Big Reader: Essays, a finalist for the Canadian Authors Association Fred Kerner Award and the Alberta Publishing Awards Trade Nonfiction Book of the Year, and Pathologies: A Life in Essays, selected by 49th Shelf and Amazon.ca as one of 100 Canadian books to read in a lifetime. She mentors writers through the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive and holds the 2023 Southam Residency in Personal Journalism at the University of Victoria. You can find her at www.susanolding.com.

Long Table Discussion: On the Situation in Israel/Palestine
2023-10-19 19:00 - 20:45 | Adair Auditorium, Atwater Library, 1200 Atwater Avenue (top floor), Montreal, Quebec, H3Z 1T4, Canada
October 19, 7:00 pm ESTIn Person & Online (register for Zoom link)Adair Auditorium, Atwater Library (4023 Tupper Street, Westmount, QC)

Revised Topic for Tonight’s Long Table Discussion:

“How are you feeling about the situation in Israel/Palestine?“

As we planned tonight’s event on what is a painful and complicated issue, we at QWF chose a specific question as a way into the topic.

We had a lot of feedback about the event. We want to say that all feedback was positively received and very beneficial to us.

We admit that we always knew that there is no ideal angle from which to approach this subject, but we also knew one other thing: the issue has to be discussed amongst us as writers. So let us consider tonight’s event a chance for those who want to, to express themselves in a public forum.

Please come with your feelings, your questions, and your point of view, or just come to listen. It is a safe space and there will be no “expert” who owns the truth.

All over the world, people of conscience are mourning the death and suffering of Israeli and Palestinian civilians. Many are hoping for a long-term, sustainable solution to the conflict. Our different backgrounds—familial, cultural, and educational—can lead to starkly contrasting and often passionate points of view that make it challenging to engage in productive conversation.

The Quebec Writers’ Federation invites our community to a discussion around a question we believe to be important, one that some of us may not yet have considered in depth:

“Is the media portrayal of Israel/Palestine skewed?” (Note: This question has been revised; see explanatory note at the top of the page.)

The format will be that of the Long Table (see explanation below). Our host—QWF President Tawhida Tanya Evanson—will explain the rules and then the conversation will follow its own course.

QWF’s organizational values include intellectually honest and respectful discourse, which we believe is even more critical when topics are difficult (like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). It is our hope that this format will allow those who wish to speak an opportunity to do so in an environment free from fear and hate. We ask that all who attend listen deeply in a spirit of openness and mutual respect and try to understand and learn from one another.

When: Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30)

Where: The Adair Auditorium at the Atwater Library and Computer Center (4023 Tupper Street, Westmount, QC)The venue is wheelchair accessible via a ramp from the Tupper Street side. See our accessibility policy for details.

The discussion will last from 7:00 to 8:15, after which light refreshments will be served until 8:45.

The discussion will be live-streamed, but to participate, you must attend in person.

To attend online: Fill out the “RSVP” form at the bottom of this page. You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting the day before the event. RSVPs will close at 5:00 pm EST on October 19.

You do not need to RSVP if you plan to attend in person.

About the Long Table Format

Conceived in 2003 by Lois Weaver in response to the divided nature of conventional panel discussions, the Long Table allows voices to be heard equally, disrupting hierarchical notions of expertise. A long table with 12 chairs is set up for those who wish to share their thoughts on the central question, one at a time. Interruptions are not permitted.

Those who prefer to simply listen are invited to sit in the auditorium chairs and do so; if they have a thought they want to share, they may at any time get up and tap someone at the table and take their seat.

Long Table Etiquette:

The long table is a performance of a dinner party conversation

Anyone seated at the table is a guest performer

Anything is on the menu

Talk is the only course

No hostess will assist you

It is a democracy

To participate simply take an empty seat at the table

If the table is full you can request a seat

If you leave the table you can come back again and again

Feel free to write your comments on the tablecloth

There can be silence

There might be awkwardness

There is an end but no conclusion

Note: RSVPs close at 5:00 pm EST on October 19. To get the Zoom link after 5:00 pm, contact John Wickham at john@qwf.org.

StoryFest 2023: Anita Anand
2023-10-19 19:30 - 21:00 | Hudson Creative Hub, 273 rue Main, Hudson, Quebec, J0P 1H0, Canada
Anita Anand is a Montreal author and translator. Her collection of short stories entitled Swing in the House won the 2015 Concordia University First Book Award and was nominated for a couple of others. Her novel, A Convergence of Solitudes was a finalist in 2022 for the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was nominated for a 2022 Foreward Indies Award; it has won the 2023 IPPY gold medal in the category of Multicultural Fiction and is also shortlisted for this year’s Ontario Library Association’s Evergreen Award. Her translation of Nirliit, a novel by Juliana Léveillé-Trudel won her a nomination for the John Glassco prize for a first translation. As the Andes Disappeared, Anita’s translation of Là où je me terre by Caroline Dawson, will be in bookstores in November. The Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) is a co-sponsor for this event through their Writers’ Out Loud series.

Tickets are available here or as a cash-only purchase at Que de Bonnes Choses (484-D rue Main, Hudson).

Temporarily Stairs: Developing and Refining Long-Form Fiction
2023-10-19 20:00 - 22:00, 2023-10-26 20:00 - 22:00 | QWF Office, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount, QC, H3Z 1X4, Canada
Ten Thursdays, Oct 5-Dec 7, 8-10pmOpen via application to those with a novel-in-progress

Limited to 10 participants

Hybrid Workshop

As Mitch Hedberg pointed out, escalators are never broken—if they stop running, they still work just fine as stairs. In the same way, a story of any length is never broken, even if it sometimes feels that way. If you’ve been working on a novel or novella and are feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just plain lost, this workshop is here to help you look at your manuscript anew and get things moving again.

This workshop is intended for writers who are looking for resources and encouragement while working on a novel or novella already in progress. Ideally, you’ll have a significant portion (a minimum of about 30–50 pages) of your novel or novella already completed, as well as a solid grasp of the story you’re working on.

Writing long-form fiction on your own or with few readers can be exhilarating, but can also leave you with incomplete drafts, discarded chapters, and the feeling that things have stalled. If you have pages of text, a cast of fantabulous characters, an amazing idea, and a story no one else can tell, but you sometimes want to call it a day and throw the whole thing out the window—don’t! I’ve been there, and I’m here to help.

Gaining insight from unbiased readers—myself and the other members of the group—in a supportive, creative atmosphere will help you identify issues, clarify your intent, and find real ways to improve your manuscript. To this end, our focus will be on crafting outlines and workshopping sections of each participant’s novel or novella. You will be invited to submit pages from your work in progress to receive feedback and notes from your fellow writers (including me!). You’ll also be encouraged to include one or two questions about your work with each submission, and you will have the opportunity to engage in informal question-and-answer sessions in each workshop.

Workshopping will be combined with lectures, discussions, and writing exercises to help you gain new insight to constructing and completing your novel or novella. We’ll explore ways to reinforce the structure of your existing manuscript, gain deeper understanding of characters, fix plot holes, tie up storylines, and approach publishers and editors. We’ll also work on sharpening another skill invaluable to any writer: the ability to pinpoint what might not be working and cut or rework if need be. Because writing a novel or novella takes as long as it takes, this workshop is designed to help you stay motivated and focused through the difficult parts of writing a long piece, and aims to give you the tools to get things moving and finish your manuscript in your own time.

To apply for a spot in this workshop, please submit the following to Riley at QWF (riley@qwf.org) by Wednesday, September 13 :

A short summary of your novel or novella (about one or two lines).

A maximum of 10 pages from your novel or novella, double-spaced (if these are not the opening pages, please include a brief note to let me know where we are in the story).

One or two questions about your novel, the process of completing a long work, and/or what to do with it when you feel it’s finished.

Sextant (Conundrum Press), Maya Merrick’s first novel, was released to critical acclaim in 2005, followed by The Hole Show (Conundrum Press) in 2007. She works with the Quebec Writers’ Federation as a mentor and workshop/master class facilitator, was an instructor at Concordia University’s Centre for Continuing Education, and served as the editorial and administrative assistant at Conundrum Press. She is an active writing coach, mentor, editor, copyeditor, and manuscript consultant. Maya is currently completing The Ride, a collection of microfiction.

Book Launch: How Did I Get Here? by David Homel
2023-10-22 14:00 | Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 3P9, Canada
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2:00 pmLibrairie Paragraphe Bookstore2220 McGill College Ave, Montreal

Join us for the launch of How Did I Get Here? A Writer’s Education by David Homel on Sunday October 22. Refreshments included!

Literary Oktoberfest
2023-10-24 18:00 - 23:00 | Riverside St-Henri, 5020 Saint Ambrose St., Montreal, Quebec, H4C 2G1, Canada
Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 6:00-11:00 pmRiverside St-Henri (5020 Saint Ambrose St., Montreal)Free, open to the public. 18+

Yolk invites you to the Literary Oktoberfest, a professional literary networking event and showcase for writers, editors, and publishers to mingle and share industry information.

From academic presses to independent journals, the event will feature a range of publishers and literary magazines, along with readings by Sean Michaels and Dimitri Nasrallah. If you’ve ever been curious about Montreal’s publishing scene, this is your chance to learn and connect.

There will be a cash bar for drinks and snacks, plus books and journals for sale.

Where: Riverside Saint-Henri (5020 Saint Ambrose St., Montreal)When: Tuesday, October 24, 6:00-11:00 pmFree to attend; open to all 18+

Participating publishers and organizations include:

Montreal Review of Books

Véhicule Press

Concordia University Press

Linda Leith Publishing

Metatron Press

Cactus Press

Turret House Press

carte blanche

Quebec Writers’ Federation

Yiara Magazine

Headlight Anthology

Soliloquies

Weird Era

LBRNTH

The Veg Magazine

Mountain Writing - Self Directed Residency 2023
2023-10-25 00:00 - 2023-11-15 23:59 | Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 107 Tunnel Mountain Drive, Banff, Alberta, T1L 1H5, Canada
Overview
The Self-Directed Mountain Writing program is a three-week residency for four established writers working in any genre (fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry), on mountain narratives, environmental journalism, stories of adventure, or projects with climbing or mountaineering themes.
With a strong emphasis on literary quality, interior journeys of exploration and the psychology of extreme endeavours are as much a focus as the physical accomplishments involved.
Writers will enjoy dedicated, uninterrupted writing time in a spectacular mountain setting, and the communality of a small group of peers from around the world.
This program overlaps with the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival where visiting authors, editors, or publishers will offer further enrichment and inspiration.
What does the program offer?
Participants will be encouraged to meet regularly to share work and projects for independent peer review and community support. During the program, once weekly, published guest speakers will present to the participants on topics and themes relevant to the program.
Writers will be allocated a Leighton Artist Studio for personal use.
Who should apply?
Established writers with a proven publication record seeking a period of dedicated time to work on a project in the mountain writing genre.
We welcome writers from all backgrounds, as well as gender identities and expressions.
Application Deadline: August 02, 2023
Program Dates: October 25 – November 15, 2023
Learn more and apply online: https://bit.ly/3OMzGcW
Financial Aid is available for this program.

SpeakUp
2023-10-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Phoenix Books, 5928 Sherbrooke Street West, 5928 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC, H4A 1X7, Canada
The Montreal Inter-Active Poetry Exchange
Poets : Mirabel, Domenica Martinello
​Join us at Phoenix Books in NDG (5928 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec H4A 1X7)
on Thursday, October 26 @ 7 PM
​for a poetry reading with a difference, AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Each audience member receives a copy of the poems.
Each poet reads their poem, followed by a 15 to 20-minute discussion.
The poet reads their poem a final time.
​For more info or details contact us by
email MTLSpeakUp@gmail.com or on Facebook @MtlSpeakUp
